did you know the national right to life committee has an annual operating budget of more than 9 million dollars and naral pro choice america operates from a budget of nearly 12 million dollars each year?

the united states of america department of justice has an office of violence against women. it funds 21 grant programs nation wide. in 2011 it had an operating budget of 434 million dollars but its budget will decrease by 21.7 million in 2013.

The Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) administers 21 grant programs authorized by the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 and subsequent legislation. These grant programs are designed to develop the nation’s capacity to reduce domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking by strengthening services to victims and holding offenders accountable.

the national council for research on women operates within an annual budget of about 1 million. it provides the research which programs use to request funding for services for women. according to ncrw

Women and girl heads of household are significantly poorer than their male counterparts. Of families headed by single mothers, 28.7 percent – 4 million of them – live in poverty compared with 13 percent – or 670,000 – of those headed by men. Poverty rates for households headed by single women of color (African American and Latina) rises to 40 percent. Average household income for women-headed households was $22,592 –- just over half the average for all households ($43,130). The difference in household income between married and single parents is significant –- only 5.9 percent of families headed by married parents live in poverty.

the lilly ledbetter fair pay act of 2009 was enacted 10 years after ms. ledbetter retired. no one knows how much it cost to lobby the senate, house and white house to support the act (it never passed in us senate). also ms. ledbetter never received a dime or restitution from goodyear.

when i think about the ‘abortion issue’ i think about it terms of how violence is committed against women. sexual violence. physical violence. emotional violence. social violence. financial violence. and i wonder if the violence against women ended…if women were able to exist in a world where there were no fear of attack. where they didn’t have to worry about whether or not they could feed themselves. would abortion be our issue?